April 29, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
| 2010 Big Ten Tournament Bracket
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Iowa is set to serve as host for the 2010 Big Ten Men's Tournament, April 29-May 2 in Iowa City, at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. Illinois, which finished in third place in the regular season with a record of 8-2, earned a bye into the quarterfinals and will face sixth-seeded Purdue on Friday, April 30 at 2 p.m. CT. Purdue topped No. 11 Penn State earlier today, 4-0.
Six teams will be in action on Thursday, as No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 9 Minnesota will square off at 9 a.m. CT, followed by Purdue and Penn State at Noon CT and rounding out the day will be No. 7 Ohio State and No. 10 Michigan State at 3 p.m. CT.
Along with No. 3-seed Illinois, each of the top-five teams received a first-round bye including top-seeded Michigan, No. 2 Northwestern, No. 4 Iowa and No. 5 Indiana. Michigan, Northwestern and Illinois will face the winners of Thursday's matches, while Iowa and Indiana will meet in the other quarterfinal match on Friday.
Michigan earned the top seed after finishing 10-0 to claim its first Big Ten title since 1997, ending Northwestern's streak of 11 straight. The Wildcats took second with a 9-1 mark.
BIG TEN IN THE RANKINGS
Three Big Ten teams currently occupy the top 25 in the latest Campbell's/ITA national team rankings released April 27, including Michigan at No. 4, Northwestern at No. 5 and Illinois at No. 21. Also making appearances in the rankings are Iowa (No. 26), Ohio State (No. 35), Indiana (No. 42), Purdue (No. 49) and Minnesota (No. 71).
Individually, the Big Ten boasts nine athletes in the top 125 singles rankings including Maria Mosolova (NU, No. 13), Denise Muresan (MICH, No. 20), Samantha Murray (NU, No. 39), Sonja Molnar (IOWA, No. 62), Kirsten Flower (OSU, No. 78), Megan Fudge (ILL, No. 91), Petra Januskova (PSU, No. 93), Lauren Lui (NU, No. 116) and Jennifer Rabot (PUR, No. 120).
The Big Ten also makes nine appearances in the top 90 doubles including Lui/Elena Chernyakova (NU, No. 22), Whitney Taney/Rika Tatsuno (MICH, No. 23), Lui/Mosolova (NU, No. 65), Brittany Wowchuk/Chernyakova (NU, No. 71), Fudge/Leigh Finnegan (ILL, No. 73), Wowchuk/Mosolova (NU, No. 77), Lindsey Stuckey/Eugeniya Vertesheva (IND, No. 82), Tijana Koprivica/Alessandra Ferrazzi (MINN, No. 84) and Murray/Stacey Lee (NU, No. 85).
FOLLOW THE ACTION
The Big Ten Network will broadcast the championship match tape-delayed on Sunday, May 9 at 4 p.m. CT. Mike Leiderman and Hillary Mintz will be on hand to call the action. Live stats will be available throughout the weekend HERE.
2009 BIG TEN TOURNAMENT RECAP
Illinois earned the third seed in the 2009 Big Ten Tournament and a bye into the quarterfinals, where it knocked off Purdue, 4-1 to advance to the semifinals. The Illini moved on to face Michigan and dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker to the Wolverines to end their run in the tournament.
ILLINI IN THE RANKINGS
The Illini made two appearances in the latest Campbell's/ITA national singles rankings released April 27, as senior Megan Fudge checked in at No. 91 in singles and No. 73 in doubles with teammate Leigh Finnegan.
APPROACHING THE CENTURY MARK
Megan Fudge closed out the regular season just three singles wins away from tallying 100 for her career. Her 97 currently ranks third in school history, while she is just seven away from tying Lindsey Nimmo for second all-time. Additionally, Fudge also ranks tied for ninth in school history with 70 career doubles wins.
DASSO HITS 50
Fourth-year head coach Michelle Dasso recently tallied her 50th career victory in the team's 5-2 win at Michigan State on April 25 to conclude the regular season. She currently ranks fourth all-time in career coaching victories.
TOP-NOTCH TENNIS
Illinois is one of 15 schools to have both its men's and women's tennis programs ranked inside the top 25 this week. The Illini women check in at No. 21 and the men are at No. 14, both for the second-straight week. Illinois also is one of only two schools in the Big Ten to boast the feat, as Michigan's women's squad is ranked fourth and the men are at No. 25.
FUDGE EARNS TWO WEEKLY HONORS
Megan Fudge earned Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors twice this season to make it five for her career.
The Kaarst, Germany, native secured her first accolade of the year for the week of Jan. 19, after she went a combined 4-2 in singles and doubles at the UCF Quad Tournament in the Illini's first action of the spring season. Fudge finished with a 2-1 mark in singles play, including victories over No. 62 Francesca Segarelli of Florida State, 7-5, 6-2 and Alexis Rodriguez of Central Florida, 6-1, 6-1. She also picked up a pair of victories in doubles, teaming up with Breanne Smutko to defeat Allison Hodges and Christy Core (UCF), 8-3 and partnered with Kristina Minor to top Paulina Bigos and Antonia Foehse (Alabama), 8-4.
She earned her second honor for the week of April 13 after helping lead the Illini to their first victory of the season over a top-25 opponent, defeating No. 22 Iowa on April 10. Fudge topped No. 55 Sonja Molnar, 6-1, 6-3 for her team-best fifth win over a nationally ranked foe and the following day at Minnesota, she rallied back to defeat Alessandra Ferrazzi, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8), in addition to teaming up with Leigh Finnegan at No. 2 doubles for an 8-4 victory over Tijana Koprivica and Jackie Sperling.
LAST TIME OUT VS. PURDUE - April 4
The Illini defeated Purdue, 6-1 at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex on April 4. Illinois was victorious on all three doubles courts for the fifth time in seven matches and carried that momentum over to singles, where junior Leigh Finnegan picked up a straight sets win over Anna Dushkina, 6-1, 6-2, while freshman Breanne Smutko tallied her third straight win with a 6-0, 6-2 defeat of Gisella Pere and sophomore Chelcie Abajian held off Imogen Golder, 6-3, 6-3 to clinch the match. Also picking up wins for the Illini was freshman Rachael White over Bhavani Tirumurti, 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7), and Megan Fudge topped Michelle Sammons, 6-2, 6-4.
LAST TIME OUT VS. NORTHWESTERN - Feb. 26
Illinois gave 11-time Big Ten champion Northwestern all it could handle Feb. 26, but ultimately dropped a 5-2 decision at Atkins Tennis Center.
All three Illini doubles tandems got off to solid starts, as Marisa Lambropoulos and Breanne Smutko raced out to a 3-0 lead and Chelcie Abajian and Rachael White went ahead 3-1 to capture some momentum early on. Megan Fudge and Leigh Finnegan went back and forth with Northwestern's duo of Lauren Lui and Elena Chernyakova, before finally pulling away with an 8-4 victory. Abajian and White took a 7-5 lead late in the match, but the Wildcat team of Maria Mosolova and Linda Abu-Mushrefova rallied back to even the score at seven apiece and eventually took an 8-7 advantage before the Illini forced a tiebreaker at eight-all. The tiebreaker proved to be every bit as exciting, with each team refusing to back down, but the Wildcats were able to outlast the Illini, winning the set 9-8 (13-11) to claim the match. Lambropoulos and Smutko also had an opportunity to clinch the match after going up 7-6 against Samantha Murray and Kate Turvy, but another 8-8 set was decided by a tiebreaker and Northwestern again prevailed, 9-8 (7-1) to win the doubles point.
That momentum carried over into singles, as the Wildcats won in straight sets at the Nos. 3 and 6 positions to take a 3-0 lead and Murray clinched the victory with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over White. Though the outcome was already decided, Finnegan hung on to claim her second straight match after rallying back from a 6-0 defeat in the first set to take the next two over Brittany Wowchuk, 6-2, 6-4, and Lambropoulos picked up her eighth win in nine matches over Turvy, 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5). Closing out the night was Fudge and Mosolova, who gave the crowd quite a show at the top spot. Fudge jumped on top in the first set, 7-5, before Mosolova evened the score in the second set, 6-2, and went on to win the tiebreaker, 1-0 (10-8).
LAST TIME OUT VS. MICHIGAN - April 24
The Illini dropped a heartbreaker April 24, as No. 4 Michigan remained perfect in the Big Ten with a 5-2 victory to snap Illinois' six-match winning streak. Chelcie Abajian and Rachael White tallied wins at Nos. 4 and 6 for the Illini.
The Wolverines struck early in doubles to claim the 1-0 advantage, before White evened the score with a win over Rika Tatsuno, 6-2, 6-1. Michigan responded with a victory at the No. 3 spot to re-gain the lead, before Abajian knocked off Michelle Sulahian, 6-3, 6-0 to tie the match at two apiece. The three Illini remaining battled until the end, but ultimately the Wolverines were able to hold on for the win to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten title with one conference match to go.
